College of DuPage trustees continue boycott, third meeting quashed

Trustee Deanne Mazzochi states that she will vote yes to fire President Robert Breuder at the College of DuPage Board of Trustees Special Board Meeting in October. On Thursday, Mazzochi accused Trustee Dianne McGuire and her allies of breaking the public's trust by boycotting a third meeting. (Jon Langham / Chicago Tribune)

Three College of DuPage trustees continued their boycott Thursday, preventing the board from obtaining a quorum for the third time and stopping a vote on whether to release records sought by local prosecutors.

Veteran trustees Dianne McGuire, Erin Birt and Joseph Wozniak had called a special meeting for 7 p.m., but they decided to cancel after the board's three newest trustees scheduled a 6:30 p.m. meeting to discuss the records request.

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Vice Chairwoman Deanne Mazzochi — who was elected in April — did the same thing last week, calling a special meeting 15 minutes before the veteran trustees intended to hold one. Neither of those meetings was held, again leaving the college without enough votes to pay bills, approve new hires or endorse three new certificate programs.

In a statement released shortly before the meeting was to start Thursday, McGuire accused Mazzochi of playing "dirty political games" in an attempt to undermine the veteran board members' agenda. Mazzochi had promised to end the first meeting by 7 p.m., but McGuire said she could not be trusted.

"Trustee Mazzochi's dirty political games have again undermined a special meeting called by three members of the board," McGuire said. "Trustee Mazzochi's grossly unprofessional behavior gives us no confidence that she will honor her promise not to interfere with our meeting tonight."

Mazzochi — who had asked the veteran trustees to include the prosecutors' request on their agenda — accused McGuire and her allies of breaking the public's trust.

"I believe the citizens of our district, and students, faculty and staff of COD have trusted them to do their duty and show up," Mazzochi said. "They apparently lack the time. My question is, what about the public trust?"

The latest boycott comes as DuPage County prosecutors have asked the college to turn over records that could shed light on a contract extension given to former President Robert Breuder shortly before he began severance negotiations.

In a letter sent Monday, Assistant State's Attorney Gregory Vaci, who heads the office's civil division, asked the college to turn over minutes and a "verbatim record" from closed-session board meetings in February and March 2014. Vaci wrote that he intended to review records to see whether the board complied with the state's open meetings act.

McGuire, Birt and Wozniak were in all that closed-door meeting, according to college records.

In his wrongful termination lawsuit against the college, Breuder says he was informed March 7, 2014, by then-Chairwoman Erin Birt that a majority of the board had approved an extension of his contract until 2019.

College records show the board had a special meeting March 6, 2014, and met in executive session for 21/2 hours to discuss personnel issues.

Breuder began negotiating a severance agreement with trustees the next month.

The lawsuit's mention of the March discussion has become a flash point for Breuder critics, who have asked DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin to review whether there was an illegal closed-door vote. The decision could depend on the interpretation of a trigger clause in Breuder's contract that automatically extended his three-year employment deal for another year every April unless the board opted to fire him. According to the contract, the board did not have to vote on its decision in an open meeting — a caveat that arguably violates the spirit of the state's open meetings law.

McGuire has said that the prosecutors' request is not urgent because the meetings happened nearly two years ago and, as such, did not need to be addressed at the meeting called by the veteran trustees.

The board has been in turmoil since former board chairwoman Katharine Hamilton resigned in early December for an unspecified personal reason. Her resignation left a 3-3 split on the board, giving the three legacy trustees power they did not have in the past several months as a minority bloc on the board.

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The stalemate is likely to continue until someone is appointed to fill Hamilton's vacancy. If the remaining trustees cannot agree on a replacement, the Illinois Community College Board will select someone.

More than two dozen people have applied for the vacancy, a college spokesman said.

In a sign that the board is unlikely to agree on a replacement and that the boycott may continue for a while, McGuire told ICCB chairman Lazaro Lopez that the college's business will not resume until the vacancy is filled.

"It appears necessary for you to appoint a trustee to fill the vacant position on the COD Board of Trustees," McGuire wrote in a letter dated Thursday and released to the Tribune.